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  • Where to Eat in Salem, MA: A Foodie Guide to the Witch City (Plus October Treats)

    Most people come to Salem for the witches, and while I get it, that might leave you wondering where to eat. I lived less than an hour from Salem for seven years, and the food is a big part of why I ...

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    Where to Eat in Salem, MA: A Foodie Guide to the Witch City (Plus October Treats)
  • Fall Road Trip Packing List: What To Actually Bring

    Fall road trips are my favorite kind of road trip, and I say that as someone who lives in a truck-and-trailer combo 365 days a year. The light is better, the crowds thin out by mid-week, the dogs stop ...

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    Fall Road Trip Packing List: What To Actually Bring
  • The Ultimate Dog Hiking Gear List For National Parks

    If you're anything like me, your dog is your favorite hiking partner, and honestly? They're probably better at it than you are. Loki, Freya, and Caly have logged thousands of trail miles with us ...

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    The Ultimate Dog Hiking Gear List For National Parks
  • The Ultimate New England Fall Road Trip: A Six-State Foliage Loop (2026)

    I lived in New England for 7 years, which means I experienced 7 autumns. Seven rounds of watching the whole region turn absolutely feral with color for about three weeks and then go quiet for the ...

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    The Ultimate New England Fall Road Trip: A Six-State Foliage Loop (2026)

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April 6, 2021

Is Great Smoky Mountains National Park Dog-Friendly? A Realistic 2026 Guide to Visiting With Dogs

Is Great Smoky Mountains National Park dog friendly? Sort of. Dogs are allowed on two trails, in campgrounds and picnic areas, and along park roads, and that’s about it. Here’s the realistic 2026 guide to the pet rules, the parking tag, dog-friendly scenic drives, and the towns around the Smokies that love dogs way more than the park does.

April 1, 2021

Camping At Acadia: The Complete Guide

Camping at Acadia National Park with dogs - complete guide featured image showing a Siberian Husky at a misty Seawall Campground campsite with picnic table and fire ring under tall pine trees, covering Blackwoods, Seawall, and Schoodic Woods NPS campgrounds plus dog-friendly RV parks on Mount Desert Island, Maine

Everything you ever wanted to know about camping at Acadia National Park with dogs…

March 20, 2021

One Day In Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone National Park is such an extraordinary place that you will want to see everything! This guide is for you if you only have one day in Yellowstone…

March 16, 2021

Is Rocky Mountain National Park Dog Friendly?

Rocky Mountain National Park is a really special place and it would be awesome if you could share it with your pups! But is Rocky Mountain National Park Dog Friendly?

March 6, 2021

Yellowstone National Park Bucketlist

Yellowstone National Park is special, it’s wild and a dream trip for many people. Check out this bucketlist for what you can’t miss…

February 27, 2021

South Dakota Bucket List

South Dakota really surprised me! There is so much to see and do, find out more here…

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Hi! I'm Vanessa, a 30 something, sunset chasing traveler. I'm here to inspire you to travel wherever, whenever, and with whoever you can. My Huskies, Loki and Freya are usually along for the ride. I have a soul that likes to wander, a desire to experience the unknown, and a curiousity to discover things off the beaten path. I hope you'll stick around for awhile!

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Let's be friends! I know e-mails can suck but mine won't and I promise cute pup photos too!

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Recent Posts

  • Where to Eat in Salem, MA: A Foodie Guide to the Witch City (Plus October Treats)
  • Fall Road Trip Packing List: What To Actually Bring
  • The Ultimate Dog Hiking Gear List For National Parks
  • The Ultimate New England Fall Road Trip: A Six-State Foliage Loop (2026)
  • The Girls Trip Guide to Bar Harbor & Acadia National Park

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10 Best Things to Do at Badlands National Park

Lamar Valley, Yellowstone: The Wild Heart of the Park

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2026 National Parks Guide: New Fees, Reservation Systems & Timed Entry Explained

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I waited 34 years to see a wild wolf. It took 11 s I waited 34 years to see a wild wolf. It took 11 seconds for me to cry watching them 😍🥹

Lamar Valley, sunrise, a whole pack moving across the flats with the bison watching from the treeline. They were playing: running at each other, rolling, splitting up and circling back. I stood at the 400-600 rental lens with my hands shaking and cried.

It’s Wolf Awareness Week, so here’s the part that matters: there were no wolves in Yellowstone for almost 70 years. They were killed off by the 1920s, and 41 were brought back from Canada in 1995 and 1996. Every wolf in the park today comes from that.

These are the only photos I took. They’re not great, but I really don’t care (that’s not the point 😉). I got watch wolves play in the wild. 

Canine distemper went through the packs in 2025. The count at the end of the year was 84 wolves, down from 108, and only 17 pups survived. That’s the lowest the park has seen since the reintroduction years. With the added threat of being hunted when they leave the park, it’s not great for wolves. 

They’ve come back from less, but it’s worth knowing when you’re watching them. Please make sure to remain 100 yards from wolves in the park. Their life could depend on it. 

If you go: Lamar Valley at dawn, a spotting scope, and good binos. These were taken with a 400-600-zoom lens that I rented for the trip, but you could watch them with binos easily! 

I’ll always go to bat for wolves, I’ve been obsessed with them since I was kid!
Did you know New Mexico had its name 200 years bef Did you know New Mexico had its name 200 years before Mexico did…

Spanish explorers were calling this country Nuevo México in the 1500s. Santa Fe was founded in 1610, which makes it the oldest capital city in the United States. The Palace of the Governors on the plaza has been in continuous use since that year. 

Mexico, the nation, didn’t exist until 1821. New Mexico became a state in 1912. And all of that is recent. Acoma Pueblo has been lived in since around 1150. Taos Pueblo, about a thousand years. 

Twenty-three tribal nations call the state home today, and the Spanish, the Mexican, and the American chapters all came after.

I fell in love with New Mexico while we were living in El Paso for a year Some of my favorites: White Sands, Ruidoso, Cloudcroft, Lincoln National Forest, 8,600 feet up in the south of the state, where the aspens go gold in October and nobody east of the Mississippi knows it happens. 

Think elk in the meadows, cool nights, a mountain town with a wooden trestle and one main street.

A place can hold four centuries of names and still be exactly itself. That’s the thing about New Mexico, it truly is enchanting! (Cheesy, but true!)

Photos from 📍 Ruidoso, New Mexico
If you’re going to Salem any time in the next two If you’re going to Salem any time in the next two weeks, you’re going during the busiest stretch of the entire year…

That’s not a reason to cancel. It’s a reason to plan like you mean it. Your trip really does depend on it. 

Salem in late October can be one of the best days you’ll have all fall. Skip the planning part and you’ll spend the day trying to find parking or in a line (lines will happen for everything either way.) 

The full crowd calendar, the parking lots by address, the kids version, and the Halloween-day schedule hour by hour are in the Ultimate Salem Guide ($) and the Salem Cheat Sheet ($). 

Comment WITCH and I’ll send you both links!
I have a soft spot for places when they’re not put I have a soft spot for places when they’re not putting on a show. I don’t want to get the shot you’ve seen 20 million times! 

This is Oxbow Bend (photo 2 &4), Grand Teton’s most photographed view. It’s gorgeous! You’ve probably seen it with golden aspens and a perfect reflection at sunrise.

We went the 2nd week of October at sunset. The leaves were almost gone, a storm was rolling in, the light was purple, and there were only a handful of other car in the pullout (which, if you’ve been there, you know is insane). 

Was it the most iconic shot? Nope. Do I love it even more? Absolutely.

A little farther down the road, a mule deer buck stepped out of the trees like he’d also been waiting for everyone to leave. We also saw elk and a grizzly cub (highlight for me, but no photos, I was just in the moment for that one). 

I think that’s why I love the off-season. The parks look different, the plans get a little looser, and sometimes you get a whole place to yourself.

Around here, we’re less chasing the perfect shot and more let’s see what happens if we stay a little longer.

If that sounds like your kind of travel, you’re in the right place. 💚
The best view of Acadia isn’t on Cadillac. It’s 3 The best view of Acadia isn’t on Cadillac. It’s 3 miles offshore, and I’ll stand by that! 

We took the Lighthouse, Wildlife & Acadia National Park Cruise with @barharborwhales last October with visitors in town, and the fog rolled in twenty minutes out. I was thrilled. Coastal Maine doesn’t owe you a clear day. It owes you a mood.

The plan was Egg Rock, Winter Harbor, Baker Island, and Bear Island. The fog had other ideas, so the captain swung us around the quiet side of the island and we got Bass Harbor Head from the water, which almost nobody sees from that angle. I wouldn’t trade it for a clear day! 

Practical bits: about two and a half to three hours, it runs through the fall, and the route changes with the weather, so go in with no expectations and a real jacket. It’s ten degrees colder on the water than on the dock, every time.

🌊🍁 Save this for October 🍁🌊 I hope you get some fog too! 😉
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